Foundation Fighting Blindness

During his Proctor Award Lecture, Dr. Pierce reviewed encouraging clinical trial results for Editas’ CRISPR/Cas9 treatment for people with LCA10

News | Budd Tucker Honored with Award for Advancements in Retinal Therapy Development by Foundation Fighting Blindness

April 28, 2023. Henry Klassen, MD, PhD, co-founder of jCyte and clinical researcher at UC Irvine, talks to host Ben Shaberman about jCyte's clinical trial results and future plans for developing its cell-based therapy for preserving vision caused by retinitis pigmentosa, Usher syndrome, and related retinal conditions.

Clinical trial participants with advanced vision loss from RP were able to identify fruits and vegetables

April 14, 2023. Electronica musician and composer Jason Taylor, aka Aether, talks with podcast host Ben Shaberman about his craft, inspirations, and how vision loss from retinitis pigmentosa has influenced his work. Jason's ambient, ethereal music has been featured in a variety of popular video games including: viewfinder, mythwrecked: ambrosia island, Rocket League, and Kingdoms and Castles. He h...

March 31, 2023. Marinna Madrid, PhD, co-founder and chief product officer at Cellino, talks about her groundbreaking work in developing lasers as a doctoral student and her company’s innovative approach for manufacturing personalized cell-based therapies including those for retinal diseases.

Most participants with advanced retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in the trial had improved navigation and/or object discrimination in reduced lighting conditions

March 10, 2023. Paul Bresge, chief executive officer at Ray Therapeutics, talks to host Ben Shaberman about his company’s emerging optogenetic therapy for restoring vision to people with advanced forms of retinitis pigmentosa (RP), Stargardt disease, and geographic atrophy (advanced dry age-related macular degeneration). Paul also reflects on his prior role as chief executive officer at jCyte and...

February 24, 2023. Dean Bok, PhD, a distinguished professor and renowned researcher at UCLA, talks with host Ben Shaberman about his pivotal discovery in the late 1960s of the daily renewal process for photoreceptors in the retina and other early, groundbreaking discoveries about retinal diseases that laid a foundation for therapy development for years to come.

February 10, 2023. Rebecca Alexander — a psychotherapist, keynote speaker, author, fitness instructor, and disability rights advocate — talks candidly with host Ben Shaberman about her journey with Usher syndrome. Reflecting on her own experiences, she discusses how people with vision loss and their loved ones can practice good emotional care and advocate for their needs.

January 20, 2023. Paul Bernstein, MD, PhD, from the Moran Eye Center, University of Utah, and a member of the Foundation’s Scientific Advisory Board talks to host Ben Shaberman about his clinical practice for retinal disease patients, his early research into vitamin A metabolism in the retina, and nutrition for people with retinal conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa and Stargardt disease.

January 6, 2023. For the first Eye on the Cure episode for 2023, host Ben Shaberman highlights some of the promising clinical advancement made in therapy development over the last year. His recap includes discussions of emerging treatments from: SparingVision, Atsena Therapeutics, Alkeus, Belite, Apellis, Iveric Bio, MeiraGTx, AGTC, 4DMT, and Opus Genetics, which, after the recording of the episod...

December 16, 2022. Rando Allikmets, PhD, from Columbia University, talks to host Ben Shaberman about his remarkable and serendipitous discovery more than two decades ago of ABCA4, the gene associated with Stargardt disease. The breakthrough changed the trajectory of his career, changed the landscape of Stargardt disease research, and led to the development of gene therapies and visual cycle modula...

The emerging therapy is designed to work independent of the mutated gene causing retinitis pigmentosa

The LCA5 gene therapy will be the first emerging Opus treatment to move into a human study

December 2, 2022. Host Ben Shaberman interviews Sue Bramhall who launched Mind's Eye Travel to host journeys around the world for people with vision loss. Affected with RP, Sue channels her passion for travel and planning to organize group adventures that include great eating, tactile experiences, and other non-visual experiences for her guests. Sighted guides also join the excursions to help alon...

November 18, 2022. Kenji Fujita, MD, chief medical officer at Atsena Therapeutics, talks to host Ben Shaberman about retinal disease gene therapies including positive results from his company's gene therapy clinical trial for people with Leber congenital amaurosis 1 (GUCY2D mutations) as well as Atsena's emerging gene therapies for X-linked retinoschisis and Usher syndrome type 1B.

The company is seeking a partner to move the LCA10 program forward

November 4, 2022. In this episode of Eye on the Cure, host Ben Shaberman talks with LambdaVision's Nicole Wagner, PhD, and Jordan Greco, PhD, about the company's emerging protein-based artificial retina, the promise it holds for restoring vision, and the low-gravity, manufacturing experiments that have been conducted at the International Space Station.

A blinding disease diagnosis can be overwhelming. Some good advice can go a long way. Do you have any advice for someone newly diagnosed? #ShareYourVision

Ask. Questions. #ShareYourVision to tell others how to best support you. Learn more about how you can #ShareYourVision at: www. FightingBlindness.org/ShareYourVision

Monica Pruitt shares her #ShareYourVision story about being diagnosed with Usher syndrome.

Dan Day shares his #ShareYourVision story about being diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa.

Raise your hand if you have a strange experience to talk about. #ShareYourVision

Blindness is not a complete blackout for everyone; it's a spectrum. What does blindness mean to you? #ShareYourVision this October. Learn more at: www. FightingBlindness.org/ShareYourVision